Work and Play are the Same Thing!

The idea, work/play is seed from which in my humorous children’s book,”Eagles and Banana Peels” grew. Grandmother is juicing bananas and Grandfather is making dirt. In the book, “If Mrs Greeby Asks” Mother is mixing in the toilet.
Don’t you remember times when you were young seeing your Mom, let’s say, scrub the toilet with a brush. Boy that looked like fun. So you asked in a hopeful voice, “Is that fun?” Hopeful, not because you wanted the answer, “yes” but that you were hopping you’d be invited to mix the toilet too? The look you got back was, “What’s wrong with you kid. Grow up. This isn’t fun it’s WORK”                                                                                             After months of, “This isn’t fun, it’s WORK,” intoned almost violently, I bet you quit asking. I did. But I was right the first time. Mom gave me the wrong information! This incorrect answer stuck inside me somewhere, off to the left and down a few stairs, waiting for me to be a Mom. So Paul, Anna and I PLAYED piano and cello in the mornings and Worked at improving mud pies in the afternoons.
I remember driving both kids home after school. Each of my kids had a friend coming too. I called over my shoulder, “Paul and Anna, I want you to play when you get home.”          They both called back “Noooo! We don’t want to play!”                                                     “You have to,” I said, “or I’ll spank you.” Then we’d all laugh and explained the joke to their startled friends.
Try it; you’ll like it!    nancymauerman.com

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